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Architectural tondo with Canopic image
Roman Provincial
Imperial, probably Hadrianic or Early Antonine
about A.D. 130–140
Medium/Technique
Limestone
Dimensions
Diameter: 98 cm (38 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Paul E. Manheim
Accession Number1970.243
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsArchitectural elements
Catalogue Raisonné
Sculpture in Stone (MFA), no. 310; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 114 (additional published references).
DescriptionA large, high architectural relief takes the form of the Canopic Osiris or Sarapis. The sacred jar and its anthropoid lid have been placed on a wreath, and this in turn on an altar or cippus, all within and above a circular frame. The head of the unusual divinity bears features seen in Romano-Egyptian decorative architectural statues of Hadrian's favorite Antinous found at Canopus in Egypt, in the Villa Adriana near Tivoli, and on the estates of Herodes Atticus in Attica. The jar is enriched with birds on an altar and figures of Harpocrates amid the foliage on either side. The ensemble was found near Mallawi, a relatively modern town between Thebes and Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile, at a point triangulated with Deir-el-Bersha and El-'Amarna. The building must have been a shrine or a large tomb. Antinoupolis, the city named in honor of Antinous, was not far away.
The tondo's molding is broken, and the surfaces are pitted and flaked. The Canopic image is in excellent condition, with only slight damage to the feathers of the headdress, the nose, and the bowl of the "urn."
The tondo's molding is broken, and the surfaces are pitted and flaked. The Canopic image is in excellent condition, with only slight damage to the feathers of the headdress, the nose, and the bowl of the "urn."
ProvenanceBy 1962: with Royal Athena Galleries, 24 East 80th Street, New York (Catalogue of Egyptian and Other Near Eastern Antiquities, 1962, no. 34) (said to be from Egypt, found near Mallawi; Kamel Hamida Collection); by 1970: Paul E. Manheim Collection; gift of Paul E. Manheim to MFA, March 11, 1970